Bozeman City Parks Cost Money

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I heard some distressing, but not unsurprising, news on the radio today. It seems that the city commission has a problem paying for Bozeman’s park maintenance.

For those of you who might be new to Bozeman, several years ago some genius decided that new housing developments would be subject to impact fees and a percentage of the subdivision had to have a portion set aside as parkland.

What Goes Around Comes Around Comes Around

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. What could be better than to have parks for the little rug rats to run around in? Or the old folks to stroll across?

Never mind that the vast majority of these so-called parks are nothing more than vacant lots with grass and no trees.

And to make matters worse, if you can’t profitably afford to allocate the parkland in your subdivision to make your profit you have to pay the city a fine in lieu of land in order to get your project approved.

What Did You Think Would Happen?

Past city commissions imposing their feel good ideology on a city has consequences that are finally being realized today. Sooner or later the general welfare comes with a cost attached and guess who gets the bill?

So what’s the easy answer for the city commission?

That’s right — pass the cost of this idiocy on to you and me in the form of higher taxes. Making Bozeman a hippie utopia has a cost. Who knew?

So now the city is saddled with a steadily increasing cost the city commission imposed on themselves. But heaven forbid they would do what all of us do — live within their means.

Why doesn’t the city commission make painful cuts in lieu of raising taxes on people who are already struggling to make ends meet?

The commission is already toying with the possibility of a Seattle Style citywide price fixing minimum wage increase.

Maybe that’s the plan to have more taxes taken out of the largest portion of the raise.

Some Final Thoughts

Obama seems to have plenty of money for Solyndra and other feel good causes perhaps we should call Washington.

Or maybe we could attach a really big mower to the Bear Cat. Perhaps those assigned to community service by the courts could do a little mowing.

We could treat it like a sidewalk snow cleaning ordinance. If you live in that subdivision you’re fined if your park is not immaculately groomed.

As I said at the beginning, I’m not really surprised that government always seems to be ignorant of the unintended consequences of its actions.

But they also have the power to absolve themselves of any blame or responsibility. They just transfer the cost to those who can least afford it — you and me.

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